The Reconquista Revisited,
Artichokes with Green Mayonnaise
The artichoke is a truly a great vegetable but yet like most things of consequence require patience in preparation and in its eating. This delicacy is appropriate to discussing the clash of cultures (Islam, American and European) because it is multicultural and because with patience you can the separate the meat of the artichoke from the nettles.
Nearly, all fresh artichokes eaten in the United States comes from a small agricultural town, off the dunes of the Monterey Bay, called Castroville. A vegetable promoter in the fifties proclaimed Castroville as the “Artichoke Center Of The World”, no one challenged it and it stuck. Much like the Garlic, Prune or Watermelon capitols, I guess. Castroville, for trivia sake, is a Martha's Vinyard of the West Coast, it a playground of the rich and famous; Democrat, Republican, Socialist and Socialite: the Monterey Peninsula generally and Pebble Beach in particular. Monterey is my hometown and it is on the poor side of on the Peninsula. Yet just the same, regardless of one’s station, eating well has always been a way of life on the Peninsula.
The artichoke has roots in Spain and this is our connection to the Reconquista or the Re-conquest. As a background you may recall that Spain financed and supervised the discovery and conquest of the New World. Northern Europeans would not have a role on the new continent for another 100 years. The Reconquista is what made this age of discovery and the planting of California artichokes possible. But we have to go back to Reconquesta itself.
The artichoke introduced to Spain by North African Moslems called Moors. The Moors were part of that great wave of Islamic conquests in the 7th and 8th centuries and as part of their conquests the came into Europe from the far West coast of Africa. The high water mark of their conquests was when their soldiers crossed the Pyrrenees into what is nowl France with 500,000 soldiers. This invading army was stopped at Poitiers/Tours by the Visigoth Franks led by Charles (the Hammer) Martel, the father of Charlemagne. The defeat of Moors confined them to the modern day Portugal and Spain. Here they prospered and Islamic civilization reached its Zenith. Life was too good, they turned less warlike, and decadent and while art, literature flourished, they fell into squabbling among themselves. While the Moors enjoyed civilization Christian kingdoms seven hundred years, sharpened their skills in chivalric contests and encroached on the Moorish kingdoms. Little by little, Moorish civilization was taken piece meal,, and there was no concerted Jihad to stop it. This 700 years of “struggle” was the Reconquista, and was capped by unification of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon through the marriage of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (the parents of Catherine of Aragon, the wife of Henry 8.). Their union and the final capture of the last Moorish kingdom, Granada, put Spain on the map as a world power. The capture of Granada was considered by Christendom as a payback for the loss of Constantinople to Islam 50 years earlier.
The culture war between Christendom and Islam in general is rarely discussed outside of the crusades. The Reconquista was a far larger slice of history but because of the general prejudices against the historical studies of Catholic nations, the Reconquista is little known. It was even evoked under Franco's rebellion and civil war. Part of the problem is that Christendom after the Reconquista disintegrated into Protestant and Catholic states. Much like today, only those nations directly threatened by Islam seem to care. The major navel victory at Lepanto (1571) crushed Turkish aspiration as a naval power was conducted almost exclusively by Genoan and Venetian fleets. Later the unlikely Polish King John Sobieski relieved the Turkish Siege of Vienna (1683) when the German states refused to help. Sound familiar? After Vienna the war between the West and Islam faded into myth and legend only to reemerge with airliners crashing into the twin towers.
This culture war between the post-Christian West and anti-West Islam continues but it takes less press coverage than the trial of a pop star child molester. Unfortunately, teaching this subject is fraught with hazard, first because the dominant material determinist/Marxist model of history has troubling describing the conflict mostly because there is a fear of discussing religion as anything other than outdated and irrelevant ideas. In general the only kind of religion that can be discussed in the public square are religions that don’t talk about right and wrong.
There are unintended consequences to just about anything anybody does, the United States is clearly not exempt. Kublai Khan’s failed invasion gave the Japanese the kamikaze and Woodrow Wilson’s kindness to the Germans after WWI gave us WWII. Regardless of how we think that life and history should be we do from time to time fight wars. They are never as trivial or as mundane as some would have us think. Ignoring the fact will not make our enemies go way. Enjoy your appetizer.
3 Large Artichokes
Boil whole artichokes until tender. Test for tenderness by tearing a off an outer leaf and nibbling the base. If the base is soft to the bite it is done. Let cool naturally.
Parsley Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons lemon juice or 1 tablespoon vinegar (balsamic or wine is fine)
1 egg yolk
1/2-teaspoon salt
1/2-teaspoon mustard
2 pinches sugar
1-cup olive
1-tablespoon fresh parsley
In a bowl, combine lemon juice and vinegar. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients. Add half of the lemon juice mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whip till stiff. (A food processor may also be used.)
Begin adding oil, a little at a time, until it emulsifies and soft peaks appear. The color should lighten once 1/4 of the oil is added. Add oil in a slowly constant stream, whisking continuously. After 3/4 of the oil is added, pour the rest of the lemon juice mixture. Slowly add remaining oil while whisking. Add parsley when the mayonnaise is beginning to firm.
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